Mr Tony Blair has brought the argument about Britain's national identity to the centre of its political debate. In a speech, he defined "Britishnesc" in terms of abiding values such as tolerance, openness, fair play, rights and self-improvement rather than unchanging institutions. In this he challenged the Conservatives on what they have often regarded as their own ground. That he should feel the need to do so tells us much about the nature of contemporary British politics. Mr Blair's advisers are annoyed by the Conservatives' proprietorial attitude towards the British constitution and identity. A crude but usually unacknowledged nationalism has increasingly informed it, based on nostalgia for empire, inherited institutions and a fear that Britain will break up under the twin pressures of European integration and devolution. If the Conservatives have their way the forthcoming election campaign will be fought on the question of whether the United Kingdom should join the euro - in other words whether sterling should be abolished - even if the referendum on joining the single currency is held separately. The issue is a platform from which a much wider defence of British tradition can be conducted, including its supposed insular separateness from Europe. A subtext is the emergence of an increasingly strident English nationalism egged on by powerful sections of the media, which play a disproportionate role in contemporary Britain.
Labour wishes to distinguish the euro question as sharply as possible from the election, but Mr Blair realises it cannot be removed from the political agenda. Hence the need to confront it head on in advance of the campaign. Mr Blair argues that investigation of British identity finds it much more readily part of Europe and much more at home with modern social democratic values than is ever allowed for by the Conservatives. If he can pull off this redefinition he will be much better placed to confront and defeat them in the election. He would also have prepared himself for the likelihood that his next administration will be more precarious, possibly with a minority of English seats and depending on Scottish and Welsh Labour MPs for its majority. That anticipation leads him to deal in advance with the potential effects of such disruptive territorial politics by probing tensions in the Conservative party between unionists and English nationalists.
It makes for a fascinating political confrontation as Britain goes through a period of major readjustment in its domestic and international affairs. Mr Blair argues that Labour is the true patriotic party and that in the contemporary world it is rational to defend such values by participating fully in European integration. Devolution does not undermine but preserves the United Kingdom by recognising its national and regional diversity - in that sense Labour has become the true unionist party. It is an audacious strategy pitched at core issues of political ideology and should be welcomed as an essential part of convincing the British that joining the euro is in their best interests.